Monday, January 12, 2009

augh! i'm in the middle of some pretty intense training so i'm just getting this out while i can. maybe someday i'll have pictures, too...

christmas 2008: a lovely blur of shepherd’s pie, scrabble, a walk around the neighborhood knee-deep in snow, fireworks at midnight, cookies & milk, tucking the "boys" in bed, sirius the christmas star and some wonderful presents from wonderful people. also, i finally closed my studio's artist’s way group support list after almost 4 years. alas, trixie's battery failed and had to be replaced when it became clear enough to drive to the dealership, but the melting snow revealed strange pockets of river stones, potatoes & ecstatic, ravenous robins. sven & i ventured forth to try ya holla, which was fairly tasty.

nye 2008: we had a leap second at 3:59 p.m.! at midnight we ran up the hill carrying tiny bottles of champagne and straws with firework tinsel. we heard our neighbors count down the seconds and then watched portland erupt in fireworks while we sang auld lang and “this will be our year.” a little boy up the hill kept yelling “happy new yeah!” i have a tradition of staying up to see the first dawn of the new year. staying up late this year was HARD, and by the time we got outside torrential rain was blowing sideways. we slept in and had just enough time to make it to grace's potluck and housewarming, to which sven brought rumballs. i finished a whole book in one day (this common secret) and the next day received a personally inscribed copy of david allen's "making it all work" from paul & shelley (thanks, guys!). then michaelmas sent a bunch of itunes gift albums for me. watching david lynch's "inland empire" wasn't nearly as successful, though.